A Comparison of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat

A Comparison of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet and writer who is regarded as a

master of the macabre, focusing on the horror genre with themes of

death and insanity being explored throughout his work. Many traits of

his main characters, such as the alcohol abuse of the protagonist in

The Black Cat are borrowed from his own experiences, with the demons

of drugs and alcohol eventually driving Poe to his death. His stories

in general share the social setting of his own life, which was

east-coast America in the mid-1800s, when at the time the distinct

stoicism of the Victorian era was prevalent and insanity was a taboo

subject - people who displayed an unstable state of mind were locked

away and treated as outcasts. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat

have many similarities, including these two men who throughtout their

stories attempt to rationalise their respective downfalls , but

instead show how terribly insane they are, letting the reader make

their own observation of their mental disintegration.

The murders in both stories have several similarities as well as

differences. Firstly, both men dissect the murders and explain

rationally the precision with which they went about killing their

victims in an attempt to seem as sane as possible. In The Tell-Tale

Heart, this is the narrator says, "You should have seen how wisely I

preceded - with what caution - with what foresight - with what

dissimulation I went to work!" while in The Black Cat he says "I set

myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of

concealing the body". Their sense of detachment actually lets the

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... more irrational. They murdered because of their mental damage and

while are not remorseful for the killings, they may have regretted

that their victims had to die because of their obsessions. In The

Tell-Tale Heart the corpse is dismembered, and while this is not done

in The Black Cat, we can compare the methodical way in which the men

go about the murders. Also, in both of the stories, the narrators

reflect on their deterioration after it has happened. This allows them

to comment on what happened with hindsight, and therefore we have a

unique viewpoint of what happened. The two stories are both told in

first person, which is necessary to gain a better idea of both men's

characters.

The language Poe uses in both stories is extremely successful in

creating the two characters and setting the scenes for the murders.